Understand

Unique amongst the Emirates in that it has coastline on both the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. This is by virtue of the emirate being made up of a main part, where the capital city Sharjah is, which is located along the Persian Gulf, and the exclaves of Kalba, Khor Fakkan, and Dibba Al Hisn which are scattered along the Gulf of Oman coast. Sharjah also controls the Nahwa enclave, which is located within the Omani exclave of Madha, which is in turn surrounded by Sharjah territory near the Gulf of Oman coast.

Because of its proximity to Dubai and the lower cost of living in Sharjah, many people live in Sharjah and work in Dubai. This causes daily traffic jams at rush hours.

Talk

As in the rest of the UAE, Arabic is the official language, with most residents actually speaking other languages entirely - particularly Hindi and Urdu. English is widely spoken in shops, souqs, and hotels.

Get in

By air

Sharjah International Airport

Most people will arrive either via Sharjah International Airport. Sharjah centre is around 15 kilometres from Sharjah Airport and 20 minutes taxi ride from Dubai International Airport (dependent upon traffic).
Getting to/from the airport:

There is a shuttle bus connecting Sharjah international airport to Sharjah centre (Rolla) running every 30 min and costing 5 AED.

Dubai International Airport

Dubai International Airport, in the neighbouring emirate of Dubai, has many more international connections and will be the more popular gateway to Sharjah.
Getting to/from the airport:

To go to Dubai International Airport by taxi will set you back at around 100 AED.

By bus

Bus travel to Dubai is possible via an inter-emirate bus service - this is run by the Government of Dubai Road and Transport Authority. Most buses leave from the Al Jubail (Al Jabal) bus station next to the Sharjah Fish market and the Sharjah Fruit and Vegetable market, nearby to the Central Souk. A bus from Sharjah to Dubai can take about 1 hour and costs 5Dh. Timetables can be found at the RTA website [2].

By taxi

Taxis can travel from Dubai to Sharjah and vice versa without any restrictions. During rush hour 7am to 11am wekdays, travel by road from Sharjah to Dubai can take up to 3 hours.

Get around

There is no public transport in Sharjah, which means that visitors will need to have their own wheels or rely on taxis. Sharjah's taxis have historically been unmetered, and although some of these remain, several new companies operating metered taxis have become operational. They are similar in quality to Dubai's taxi fleet.

Taxi Drivers, although mostly courteous, do have the tendency to refuse passengers if the time of travel coincides with rush hour traffic. It is advisable to plan your travel well, allowing for traffic jams which could take upto an hour/hour and half to get out of.

See

Do

Eat

Drink

Sharjah is known as a "dry emirate" which means the sale or possession of alcohol within Sharjah is almost entirely forbidden. The exceptions are:

Sharjah Wanderers Club, [3]. Sports club with pool, gym, hockey team etc but they also have a British bar with traditional British food. They serve spirits, wine, bitter, lager and stout on the premises. Members and their guests only.

Alcohol is available at the duty-free and business class lounges of Sharjah International Airport.

If you have an personal alcohol license, you may bring in alcohol from other emirates and consume it at home.

Also, it is legal to transport alcohol through Sharjah if your final destination permits it (eg. Dubai to Fujairah). Don't expect all police to be familiar with this rule though!

Sleep

Stay safe

Generally speaking, Sharjah is a very safe place. Western women may get a few stares as they are fairly rare in Sharjah, but it is a safe place to walk around 24 /7